Strange.
Too strange.
Icot even began to suspect whether Qiao En was the direct descendant of some big shot in the demon hunter circles.
Unlike clerics like him who had to consider social stability, those madmen who dared anything for money and power always walked on the front lines of exorcism.
Either they won, harvesting demon blood and materials to arm themselves stronger, or they lost, dying miserably under demon claws.
There was almost no middle ground.
Compared to holy knights, demons also feared demon hunters more.
Oh, except succubi.
After all, succubi’s power was useless against demon hunters; demon hunters preferred to keep succubi as toys, and sell them once they got bored.
Unlike the Church, which before Demon King Lia developed the succubus shop business, liked to use weak succubi to pad their political achievements the most.
Only the direct descendant of a powerful demon hunter could make two Chosen Great Demons obediently enter the Inquisition Court prison.
In Icot’s eyes, even the Hero who was currently at the height of his fame couldn’t do that.
He rather looked down on Demon King Lia’s combat ability.
After all, he had dealt with quite a few demons—what powerful demon would spend all day thinking about doing business to make money?
In the end, the Great Demons were not afraid just because one Demon King Lia had been killed.
“Two grandmothers, why don’t you give me the bottom line? What do you actually want? We can negotiate, right? Let’s talk! We can talk about anything!”
Maive opened her mouth to ask something, but suddenly Navarro pulled her back, and she spoke directly on Maive’s behalf:
“Don’t overthink it. This beautiful lady just wants to use your hands to fake her death.”
“Fake her death again?”
Icot found it hard to believe.
“Mm-hmm.”
“But you just arrived in the Empire Capital.”
By then Maive caught on too, realizing the other party must have been kept in the dark by the Hero, otherwise he wouldn’t be puzzled about why she came willingly.
Always one to follow her heart, she naturally knew whose side to take.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Maive shrugged.
“I was planning to settle down for two years, but a Flame Demon with a hole in his head insisted on dragging me into a fight. You know how it is—we Shadow Demons have never gotten along with those idiot warmongers from the First Demon Realm.”
The reason was logically plausible.
But Icot still felt something wasn’t quite right.
Too coincidental—how could it be this coincidental?
Had Qiao En been kissed by the Goddess of Luck?
Maive’s reaction instead made Icot lean more toward the idea that Qiao En must be connected to demon hunters, or maybe even be a powerful demon hunter himself pretending to be young.
Throwing around over 1,000 gold coins at a time—that spendthrift attitude fit demon hunters perfectly, who never knew when they’d die, lived for the moment, and had a weak concept of money.
“Alright, I understand.”
Icot wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
This intelligence was too terrifying.
He had to reassess his relationship with that Qiao En, at the very least never again covet their riding pet.
Fortunately, he hadn’t invested much so far.
Stopping in time was still salvageable.
Years of being a bishop instantly made him realize the best choice now.
That was to back down.
Since the other party was a powerful demon hunter, or had powerful demon hunters in their network, then repairing the relationship, successfully courting them, and forming a community of interests might turn a bad thing into a good one.
Icot quickly changed his mindset and, at the earliest opportunity, invited Qiao En to a feast under the pretext of “discussing a transfer to work in the Inquisition Court.”
During the meal, he kept his posture very low.
“Little Hero Qiao En, you did well, very well. Actually, I thought it over after returning—the Inquisition Court has been going too far lately. Cleaning up the ranks is very necessary.”
Icot proactively poured wine.
“I support you in this matter.”
At that time, Icot still didn’t know that Qiao En was already fully aware of the things he had done in secret.
Watching Icot’s sincere expression, Qiao En suddenly felt the world was terribly terrifying.
A thousand times more terrifying than tangible perils like demons, vipers, and fierce ghosts.
True mixed with false, false mixed with true, as if everyone wore a face of mist—no one knew whether beneath that mask was a human-like ghost face or a beast-like countenance.
Qiao En took the initiative to ask, his tone gradually becoming aggressive:
“Are you trying to say that you have nothing to do with those matters in the Inquisition Court?”
“You must never say that. I bear serious responsibility—it was my management failure. When the truth comes to light, I’ll definitely write a confession and examine myself before the Goddess.”
Icot’s tone was heavy with grief, as if no one felt more pity for the victims’ plight than he did.
Qiao En suddenly didn’t dare to trust the warmth of the words in his ears anymore.
In that instant, he had the illusion that “the whole world was wrapped in lies.”
Suppressing the urge to burn bridges, Qiao En smiled without warmth and drained his drink.
“I hope the merciful Goddess punishes the guilty in this matter.”
He gripped the wine glass and muttered softly.
No one would hear the other words churning in his heart.
‘If the Goddess won’t do it.’
‘Then I’ll do it myself!’
Brotherhood Headquarters.
After a short period of fumbling and adapting, Liya had completely taken over Lage the gang boss’s work.
Good news: the Hero wasn’t around.
Bad news: Qiao En had unnecessarily sent that stinky elf to help her with the disguise.
Liya wanted to tell Qiao En that she could perfectly impersonate him on her own—as long as she Devoured Lage’s corpse and analyzed all his information, she could completely mimic him, no need for that meddling elf.
But she was afraid that explaining too much would expose her dangerous traits, alert Qiao En, and even further reveal her identity as Demon King Lia.
If in the past she had only feared eating another Sacred Slash,
now the consequences of exposure were even worse.
That damned curse.
Liya didn’t even dare think about how heart-wrenching the pain would be if the Hero distanced himself from her for such a reason.
She was a rational person.
Precisely because she was rational, she faced the terror of love.
Reason told her that she wasn’t as rational as she imagined; she could also be drowned by surging emotions.
For some reason, the elf Ailita kept looking at her with a strange, excited smile, and the deep meaning in her eyes made Liya shudder.
Liya flipped through the audit ledger while unable to resist warning:
“Hey hey! Long ears! Lily is warning you! If you dare lay a hand on Lily, whether it’s smearing black pepper sauce or making sashimi, the Hero will arrive in one second and give you a Comet Elbow Strike. I guarantee he’ll elbow you into outer space this time!”
“What’s outer space?”
Ailita propped her head and asked with interest.
Liya choked, but fortunately she reacted quickly and, without changing expression, swiftly explained:
“It’s written in the Astrophysics textbook Demon King Lia wrote for demonkind. That boundless space above our heads where the stars and moon are—that’s outer space. Lily has memorized the whole book before, Lily is very cultured, don’t try to fool me!”
“Truly astonishing.”
Ailita praised softly, her smile growing more playful.
“Understanding the ‘starry sky’ is actually a very difficult thing. Most people can’t accept that the land beneath our feet is not the center of the world.”
She listlessly leaned on the table and lightly poked Liya’s cheek, her tone still lazy and teasing:
“In the past, I mentioned similar concepts to Qiao En and the princess, but they didn’t believe me. Instead they said—”
“Huh? How can the starry sky be bigger than the earth?”
“But you understand.”
“You, a Pupu who never looked up at the starry sky before, understood it before Qiao En.”
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.